“let’s get back to civilization!”

As I was saddling back up on Mindful Mule after my Devil’s Gate Trail run last evening a couple of young runners were exiting the trail behind me. I had just passed them on the way out about a mile up the trail where they had gone off the trail over to the creek for some reason where they were squealing in that high Beatles-follower pitch as youngsters sometimes do. Maybe they dropped their iPod in the river or something, I don’t know, but they seemed fine when I passed them. When they got back to the trailhead one of them exclaimed with relief, “let’s get back to civilization!”

I thought it was sorta funny, pretty cute. I mean, I understand where they were coming from, and that’s exactly why I like that trail. It does have the feeling of a “real” trail (like) out in the woods. But you’re also never more than about half a mile from a road and for much of that you’re only about two meters from the rough off of fairway 16 at Brookside Golf Course (actually, I have no idea what hole number it is). So, you never really get a chance to leave civilization on that trail. Oh, and then there’s also the Interstate 210 Freeway bridge that runs directly overhead about a mile in – it’s so high that you barely notice it but you’ve got to realize it’s there – or wonder where all that shade is coming from.

In other trail running news, it turns out I’m getting a little bit wiser. The creek was flooded again and I just walked right in without trying to balance on rocks that didn’t quite span the flow or make any kind of impossible flying longjumps. My socks filled up with about a 1/2 cup of silt each though and I did have to give my shoes a good rinsing bath when I got home but it turns out it’s just a little water. Wet shoes and socks are really not that bad when compared to any kind of injury/recovery. And besides, I’ve got a race this weekend and as a little Zen master once said, “you can’t run if you can’t run.”